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Future Treasures: Memoria by Kristyn Merbeth

Future Treasures: Memoria by Kristyn Merbeth

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The Nova Vita Protocol: Fortuna and Memoria by Kristyn Merbeth.
Orbit Books, November 2019 and December 2020. Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

Kristyn Merbeth’s first series, The Wastelanders (published under the name K.S. Merbeth), was described as a “no-holds-barred ride through a Mad Max-style wasteland.” Her most recent is a full-throttled space opera, and a successful one at that. It opened with Fortuna last year, which Kirkus Reviews called “a wild ride.”

Merbeth’s (Raid, 2017, etc.) latest — the first installment of an SF adventure trilogy — follows a family of smugglers as they unknowingly become entangled in a grand-scale conspiracy that could ignite an interstellar war and kill millions.

It’s been three years since Scorpia Kaiser’s older brother, Corvus, left the family business to enlist and fight in a bloody conflict on his war-torn home planet of Titan. But, with Corvus’ service officially ended, Scorpia — at the behest of her mother, the Kaiser matriarch — is piloting the family ship, Fortuna, to Titan to reunite her brother with the family. Picking up Corvus wasn’t the only mission, however. Her mother is completing a deal with government officials involving highly illegal alien biological weapons that could potentially end the war. As Corvus, Scorpia, and their siblings wait for their mother to return to the ship, they discover that a cataclysm is sweeping the planet, wiping out entire human populations. Forced to leave their mother behind, the siblings barely escape with their lives…. The nonstop action and varying levels of tension make this an unarguable page-turner, and the ending, while satisfying, is a perfect jumping-off point to another much larger adventure to come. A wild SF ride — alcohol and family dysfunction not included.

The second volume in The Nova Vita Protocol, Memoria, arrives in paperback from Orbit early next month. Here’s the description.

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Catch-22 in Space: The Small Colonial War Series by Robert Frezza

Catch-22 in Space: The Small Colonial War Series by Robert Frezza

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A Small Colonial War, Fire in a Faraway Place, and Cain’s Land by Robert Frezza
(Del Rey/Ballantine, 1990-96). Covers by Stephen Hickman and Peter Peebles

Anyone else out there read stray book comments on the internet that send them off in search of 30-year old paperbacks? No? Yeah, that figures. Well, that’s what happened to me when I stumbled on this brief mention of Robert Frezza’s 1990 military SF novel A Small Colonial War on Reddit last night.

Anyone read A Small Colonial War? Catch-22 in space. Need to find my copy, it was dad’s favorite SF and he was very well read. Had to send my paperback to his widow.

It’s a total cluster-f**k of an empire trying to impose their will on a rebellious colony, told mainly from the point-of-view of the invaders. And it’s hilarious. And brutal. And hilarious.

A Small Colonial War was the first novel in a trilogy published between 1990-96. I’ve never read it, and I’m not 100% even sure I’ve ever seen a copy. But that small mention pinged around in my head because someone else had recommended A Small Colonial War recently, and it took some mental gymnastics to remember who and when. (Cut me some slack — I read about a lot of books).

But I remembered eventually. It was James Nicoll, in his July post Five Doomed Armies in Science Fiction at Tor.com. Here’s his more involved take.

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Mission Impossible with Dragons: The Kingdom of Grit Trilogy by Tyler Whitesides

Mission Impossible with Dragons: The Kingdom of Grit Trilogy by Tyler Whitesides

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The Kingdom of Grit trilogy by Tyler Whitesides (Orbit Books). Covers by Ben Zweifel

I was in Barnes & Noble on Saturday and I found a fat fantasy with a striking cover, and all the hallmarks of a good read — starting with this cover quote by David Dalglish, author of the bestselling Shadowdance series:

Mission Impossible, but with magic, dragons, and a series of heists that go from stealing a crown to saving the world.

The book was The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides, and I was surprised to find it was the second volume in a trilogy. How had I missed the first one? Because it was released only two weeks ago, that’s how. And the final volume? It’s due in less than a month. That’s over 2,000 pages of epic fantasy, served up on a platter by Orbit Books.

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn (752 pages, $17.99 paperback/$9.99 digital, October 22, 2020)
The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn (704 pages, $17.99 paperback/$9.99 digital, November 3, 2020)
The Last Lies of Ardor Benn (672 pages, $17.99 paperback/$9.99 digital, December 1, 2020)

Okay, technically the first book was originally published two years ago, but still. Orbit has repackaged the first volume (with a brand new cover by Ben Zweifel), and side-by-side these books look very striking indeed. Reviewers have been kind as well (the British Fantasy Society says, “There is something a little Locke Lamora about Ardor Benn which fans will delight in… The pace in this first book is excellent and holds up from start to finish, and it looks like we have a very desirable series to devour in Kingdom of Grit“). If you’re looking for a substantial new fantasy series to get you through the fall, look no further.

See all our recent coverage of the best new fantasy series here.

The Return of Fantasy Magazine

The Return of Fantasy Magazine

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Fantasy Magazine is back! Nearly ten years since publisher John Joseph Adams merged it with Lightspeed, Fantasy has returned as a standalone digital magazine co-edited by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg and published by Adamant Press.

The magazine has a rich history. It originally appeared in 2005, publishing six print issues before moving online in 2007. Its editors have included Sean Wallace, Paul Tremblay, and Cat Rambo; John Joseph Adams took the reins in March 2011, and bought the magazine from Sean Wallace’s Prime Books in November of that year. We last covered Fantasy Magazine in April 2011 with issue #49 — an issue that included Peter S. Beagle, Jonathan L. Howard, and Carrie Vaughn.

What’s in the first issue of the new Fantasy? Here’s Arley and Christie from their editorial.

In this issue we have Shingai Njeri Kagunda’s heartbreaking tale of a time-skipping sister told with a dash of poetry, “And This Is How to Stay Alive”; a surreal tale of perspective, “An Introduction” by Reina Hardy; May Chong’s wildly fun and sensual werewolf fantasy poem, “things i love about my werewolf girlfriend”; “The Secret Ingredient is Always the Same,” by Sarah Grey, a poem of heartbreak, survival, and friendship; Osahon Ize-Iyamu brings us a story of personal truth and potential in “To Look Forward”; Tamoha Sengupta gives a brief, vivid account of young love and pure rebellion in “Love Laws and a Locked Heart”; and we have an interview with Burning Roses author S.L. Huang.

It’s enormously exciting to see Fantasy reappear, and in such capable hands. Check it out here, and buy digital issues for just $2.99 at Amazon and other fine online venues. See all our recent magazine coverage here.

New Treasures: Daughter of the Serpentine by E. E. Knight

New Treasures: Daughter of the Serpentine by E. E. Knight

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Novice Dragoneer and Daughter of the Serpentine (Ace Books). Covers by Dan Burgess

Happy Book Birthday to Daughter of the Serpentine, the second volume in E. E. Knight’s hugely popular Dragoneer Academy series!

Eric, of course, needs no introduction to Black Gate readers — his 11-volume Vampire Earth series and his six-volume Age of Fire epic are both perennial favorites in our offices, and Eric’s also a regular blogger for us. And I was very proud to publish his Blue Pilgrim tale “The Terror in the Vale,” one of the very best stories in our Black Gate Online Fiction library.

The opening volume in his new series, Novice Dragoneer, was published last year to wide acclaim. The Bibliosanctum called it “Delightfully entertaining,” and Booklist proclaimed it “An excellent fantasy coming of age story.” Anticipation for the second book has been through the roof, and it looks like the wait was worth it — check out this snippet from the rave review at Library Journal.

Knight (Age of Fire series) continues the story of Ileth, a teen who comes from nothing and strives to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a dragonrider in the Serpentine academy. Ileth has matured since the first book and takes on new challenges, such as balancing two apprenticeships; one as a dragonrider and the other as a dancer. As she rises in rank, enemies threaten the republic, forcing her to take charge of her future sooner than she anticipated. Knight creates a marvelous character study of a young woman within the walls of a mostly male-dominated world… VERDICT: Highly recommended… Start with the first in the series or just dive right into this perfect adventure tale.

Daughter of the Serpentine was published today by Ace Books. It is 496 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 in digital formats. The cover is by Dan Burgess. Read an excerpt here. See all our coverage of the latest releases by BG Staff here.

Vintage Treasures: The Black Grail by Damien Broderick

Vintage Treasures: The Black Grail by Damien Broderick

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The Black Grail (Avon Books, September 1986). Cover by Luis Royo

I picked up Damien Broderick’s The Black Grail mostly because of the great Luis Royo cover (which speaks to me vividly of 80s-era SF and fantasy), but it turns out to have a pretty interesting back story.

The Black Grail is Broderick’s sixth novel, a substantial expansion and retelling of his first novel, 1970’s Sorcerer’s World. Most sources list them as separate books since, to quote from the ISFDB, “their difference is substantial enough to consider this a different work.” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls it “a far more complex and sophisticated rewrite of Sorcerer’s World… [depending] upon elaborate plotting involving alternative timelines and temporal paradoxes.”

That alone was enough to pique my interest, and that was before I found this brief 4-star review on Goodreads that compared it to Jack Vance’s masterwork:

I really enjoyed this book from the Dying Earth sub-genre. It had a lot of ideas packed into the 310 pages. I found it to be a fairly quick read that moved along with an action packed plot and interesting twists on familiar Dying Earth themes…

Lightsabers, elaborate plotting, temporal paradoxes, and Dying Earth motifs? I’m sold. This one has shot to the top of my TBR pile. The Black Grail was published by Avon Books in September 1986. It is 310 pages, priced at $3.50. It has never been reprinted in the US, and there is no digital edition. The cover is by Luis Royo. It’s part of the 6-volume Faustus Hexagram series that also includes The Judas Mandala (1982), Striped Holes (1988), and The Sea’s Furthest End (1993).

See al our recent Vintage Treasures here.

A Tour of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon: Marvel: The First 80 Years

A Tour of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon: Marvel: The First 80 Years

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Marvel: The First 80 Years, magazine edition from Titan Comics. On sale November 2020

I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday, picking up some new releases, including a new Stellaris anthology and the latest Year’s Best anthology from John Joseph Adams (here’s the complete stack of titles I walked out with), and literally on my way out of the store my eye fell on a colorful cover in the magazine section. I reversed course to get a closer look, and three minutes later I was back in the checkout line, buying one more item.

The magazine was Marvel: The First 80 Years, a 160-page full color special release from Titan. It’s a little pricey, even with my B&N discount ($19.99 cover price), but according to the scant facts I can find on the internet, it’s a limited release magazine version of the upcoming book Marvel: The First 80 Years, scheduled for hardcover release in two weeks with a $29.99 price tag.

I didn’t know any of that yesterday, tho. I shelled out nearly 20 bucks for an oversize magazine because it looked more than worth the money. Have a look at the gorgeous interior photo spreads below and see if you agree.

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Future Treasures: Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen

Future Treasures: Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen

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Nophek Gloss-smallThere are times when you need to tune out all the chaos in the world. The week after a tumultuous US election is definitely one of them.

And you know what helps with that, don’t you? A brand new book from an exciting debut author. The one I’ve got in mind is Nophek Gloss, the tale of a young man who sets out on a single-minded quest for revenge across the galaxy when his planet is destroyed. It arrives from Orbit on Tuesday, and it’s preceded by a lot of great press.

What kind of press? Michael Mammay (Planetside) says it “reads like a Becky Chambers novel crossed with Firefly,” and The Quill to Live calls it “a bizarre journey through space and time with a lovable crew of rogues on a spaceship.”

Booklist says it’s packed with “fast-paced action, and stunning scientific concepts, with mercantile and political intrigues spanning manifold universes,” and Publishers Weekly calls it a “wonderfully inventive debut“:

A revenge plot leads mechanic Caiden across a multiverse populated by a colorful array of humanoid species in Hansen’s wonderfully inventive debut, the first of a space opera trilogy. Fourteen-year-old Caiden lives on a planet that raises vicious predators called nophek. When the planet is attacked by a new shipment of nophek, Caiden alone escapes, and uses his unique ability to manipulate technology to pilot an abandoned spaceship. Caiden soon joins a team of scavengers who guide him to Emporia, an interstellar marketplace where he learns more about the Casthens, who orchestrated the slaughter of his people, and undergoes genetic manipulation to accelerate the development of his body and mind. He emerges a 20-year-old determined to bring down the Casthen… Space opera fans will be eager for the next installment.

Nophek Gloss is the opening novel in The Graven series. It will be published by Orbit Books on November 17, 2020. It is 448 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 in digital formats. The cover is by Mike Heath. Read the first two chapters here.

See all our recent coverage of the best upcoming SF and fantasy here.

Giant Spiders, Horrifying Plants, and Robots at the End of Time: The Best of James Van Pelt

Giant Spiders, Horrifying Plants, and Robots at the End of Time: The Best of James Van Pelt

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The Best of James van Pelt (Fairwood Press, November 2020). Cover by Gabriel Gajdoš

If you’re a regular Black Gate reader, James Van Pelt needs no introduction.

He’s been a prolific contributor to all the major science fiction magazines we’ve covered for the past two decades. He’s also a part-time BG columnist, covering the short fiction beat for us with his occasional Stories That Work column. His latest book is sure to be of interest to all our readers — The Best of James Van Pelt, just released by Fairwood Press, is an enormous 700-page survey of James’ entire career, collecting 62 stories and nearly 300,000 words of fiction. Here’s a snippet from the starred review at Publishers Weekly.

Van Pelt showcases his mastery of short-form fiction in these 62 stories, all published between 1993 and 2018 and ranging from apocalyptic fiction to subtle daylight horror, Lovecraftian riffs, and speculation about future social policy initiatives. . . .Van Pelt’s superior combination of imaginative concepts with recognizable human emotions makes him a talent deserving of a wide readership.

Here’s the publisher’s description.

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New Treasures: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

New Treasures: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press, October 2020). Cover by John Picacio

Rebecca Roanhorse burst on the scene in 2018 with her debut novel Trail of Lightning. I remember pretty vividly because my own debut The Robots of Gotham was released the same month, and I watched in awe as Trail of Lightning outsold it by a comfortable margin — and then went on to be nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, and won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. It was certainly humbling, but I’m still proud we were both part of the same June 2018 graduation class, and I’ve followed her career enthusiastically every since.

Her latest is Black Sun, the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, an epic of forbidden magic and celestial prophecy, set in an imaginary Pre-Columbian North America as it was before European explorers invaded. Here’s an excerpt from the review at Kirkus.

The winter solstice is coming, and the elite members of the sacred Sky Made clans in the city of Tova are preparing for a great celebration, led by Naranpa, the newly appointed Sun Priest. But unrest is brewing in Carrion Crow, one of the clans…. Meanwhile, a young sailor named Xiala has been outcast from her home and spends much of her time drowning her sorrows in alcohol in the city of Cuecola. Xiala is Teek, a heritage that brings with it some mysterious magical abilities and deep knowledge of seafaring but often attracts suspicion and fear. A strange nobleman hires Xiala to sail a ship from Cuecola to Tova. Her cargo? A single passenger, Serapio, a strange young man with an affinity for crows and a score to settle with the Sun Priest. Roanhorse’s fantasy world based on pre-Columbian cultures is rich, detailed, and expertly constructed… A beautifully crafted setting with complex character dynamics and layers of political intrigue? Perfection. Mark your calendars, this is the next big thing.

Black Sun was published by Saga Press on October 13, 2020. It is 454 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $11.99 in digital versions. The cover is by John Picacio. Listen to an audio excerpt or read the complete first chapter at the Simon & Schuster website.

See all our recent New Treasures here.